9 named to Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame

KOSF's Celeste Perry, left, KBAY's Sam Van Zandt, and KCBS news and programming director Ed Cavagnaro will be inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame.

KOSF's Celeste Perry, left, KBAY's Sam Van Zandt, and KCBS news and programming director Ed Cavagnaro will be inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame.

Photo: Courtesy Celeste Perry

Photo: Courtesy Celeste Perry

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KOSF's Celeste Perry, left, KBAY's Sam Van Zandt, and KCBS news and programming director Ed Cavagnaro will be inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame.

KOSF's Celeste Perry, left, KBAY's Sam Van Zandt, and KCBS news and programming director Ed Cavagnaro will be inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame.

Photo: Courtesy Celeste Perry

9 named to Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame

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Having seen more than a dozen of his colleagues march into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame since its inception in 2006, Ed Cavagnaro, news and programming director of KCBS, is getting his own key.

Cavagnaro, who's worked at KCBS since 1977, is one of nine broadcasters who will be inducted into the hall in September. Cavagnaro, who won in the Specialty category, will be joined by KCBS sportscaster Steve Bitker.

Some 3,000 ballots were cast, and voting was tight in several categories, including program host. The two top vote-getters will be inducted: Celeste Perry, whose credits range from KYA and KSFO to KFRC-FM and, now, KOSF (103.7), and Sam Van Zandt, veteran of both San Francisco (KYA, KIOI, KNEW, KSAN, KCBS-FM) and South Bay radio (KBAY mornings since 2005).

Two newscasters will be enshrined: Bob Lazich, heard for 30 years on KNBR until 1995, and Peter Finchof KFOG and now KGO, where he anchors evening newscasts.

Another inductee with KFOG connections is Bill Ruck, engineering manager from 1978 to 1999 at the Cumulus cluster - KFOG, KNBR, KTCT, KSAN - who also worked at KUSF, KALW and KJAZ.

The Hall of Fame will welcome, in the executive category, Jo Anne Wallace, whose steady leadership as VP and GM of KQED-FM took the NPR station to the top of the ratings in 2011. (It's remained at or near No. 1 since.)

In the pioneer slot, the hall will induct DJ Norman Davis, who dates back to 1958 and KOBY, the first Top 40 station in the city, KYA, KSFO, KOFY and most notably KSAN, which earlier in the year was named legendary station of the year.

The Hall of Fame announcements were part of the California Historical Radio Society's annual Radio Day by the Bay, the first to be presented at its new home on Central Avenue in Alameda. While "Radio Central" is being renovated, the society used a neighboring high school auditorium for the day's main events, including a set by the Golden Gate Radio Orchestra and a production of "The Lone Ranger" by the Old Time Radio Players, including Dave Parker, 90, who was in the actual "Lone Ranger" radiocast from 1948 to 1951. Auctions of vintage radios and equipment were conducted by Finch and Mike Adams.

Society prez Steve Kushman gave me a tour of "Radio Central," formerly a school. By far the oddest sight was what he called a bathroom "direct from Sochi." It had side-by-side toilets, a couple of feet apart, with no partition between them. The society has not yet installed dual microphones.

Oh, my pod: Ed Baxter, former news anchor on KGO, is a go-getter. After leaving KGO in 2011, he started a media services company, Baxter Media. So it's no surprise that, after KGO dismissed most of its talk-show hosts and changed its format in late 2011, and after no other stations picked up the discarded hosts (except for a couple on KKSF), Baxter has taken action.

They are not doing radio. They are writing and voicing short features, and they can be heard at www.thetalkpod.com and on mobile devices. Despite the site's name, Baxter says it's not a podcaster. Podcasts, he said, "are rewarmed radio shows, or people telling you how to get rid of toenail fungus. Here you've got well-known talk-show talent doing original content, in a form you're not hearing elsewhere."

In fact, it's free-form. Although some are specialists, talking politics, sports, weather, science, shopping and movies, they and others can comment on whatever they like. Burford, freed from traffic reports, expounds on tech gadgets, on the idea of a three-day workweek, and on how the rich spend their dough. Baxter and Allen engage in exchanges about news and politics. Dito can sound off on baseball trades, moments after they've been made. And Young goes beyond the weather maps to talk about why the weather is so weird.

Listeners can respond only by e-mail, but Baxter says that TheTalkPod has plans "for longer and two-way programs. People will be able to call in and communicate with the hosts." And, yes, he's talking with a couple of other ex-KGO personalities.

Speaking of which: Joanie Greggains, fitness dynamo who was bounced from KGO weekends, is now on KSRO (103.5 FM/1350 AM in Sonoma County) with a call-in show Saturdays, 6-8 a.m.

Fox hunt: KUFX ("K-Fox") has given up the classic-rock fight in San Francisco. After adding 102.1 to its long-established South Bay signal at 98.5 early in 2011, and seeing little in ratings increases, owner Entercom has flipped 102.1 to "rhythmic hot AC" (up-tempo, R&B-driven hits and "throwbacks" spanning 20 years), as "Q102." That leaves KSAN ("The Bone" at 107.7) the lone classic rocker in the city, while "K-Fox" rocks on at 98.5 and via HD2, KFOX.com and mobile apps.

A Giant: Comcast SportsNet Bay Area's tribute to Lon Simmonsis must-see viewing for sports fans. The half-hour special features stories from Simmons and, to balance his self-effacing remarks, words of praise from sportscasters, including fellow Hall of Famer Jon Miller, as well as Willie McCoveyand Dennis Eckersley. The show airs at 4 p.m. Tuesday on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, and three times on Comcast SportsNet California: 5 p.m. on Saturday, 4 p.m. Aug. 27 and 11:30 p.m. Aug. 28.

High, there: "The Hash," a new podcast, or, more accurately, a "pot cast," has been launched by Ben Manilla, producer of the syndicated "Elwood's BluesMobile" with Dan Aykroydand "Philosophy Talk." "The Hash" is focused on marijuana news and pot culture, with interviews, commentary and music. Manilla's co-producers are David Bienenstock, who covers pot issues for VICE.com, and David Downs, editor of a blog, Smell the Truth, at SFGate.com. This joint venture can be heard at www.thehash.org. {sbox}